There are many activities where the use of a pole is beneficial. For example, downhill skiers use poles to stabilize themselves as they traverse the mountain. In addition, where the skier plants the pole helps define a pivot point about which the skier turns. Snowshoeing in deep snow is an example of a sport where an adjustable pole is useful. Deep soft snow may be somewhat unstable to walk in without poles. An adjustable pole is particularly useful in snowshoeing because one may adjust for varying depths of snow. Cross-country skiing also uses adjustable poles not only for stability, but for propulsion as well. Hikers and trekkers commonly use poles to minimize knee impact by supporting a portion of their body weight on the poles rather than their legs.
An adjustable pole is particularly helpful to provide proper height adjustment for different users and for different activities. In some instances, providing proper pole height for a user may reduce stress on the user's body. Adjustable poles typically include a telescoping arrangement of parts that includes at least two pole segments that slide one into the other. The overlapping pole segments permit length adjustment. Typically, some type of locking mechanism is operably positioned where the pole segments overlap to adjustably lock the segments in a particular lengthwise position relative to one another.